GHPS Life

SMILING MIND IS HELPING EVERY MIND THRIVE AT GREENHILLS!

Check out these wonderful photos of some of our Prep classes starting their day with a meditation. This helped them calm down after a busy morning of reading and changing their readers, enabling them to move forward to a fantastic day of focused learning.

Want to know more about Smiling Mind? Attend our Smiling Mind Parent Info night on the 9th of June at 6:30pm hosted by Therese Sheedy, who is currently working as a Psychologist/Program Lead with Smiling Mind. This workshop is designed to introduce parents and carers to mindfulness so that they can support their own wellbeing and the wellbeing of their children. We can’t wait to see you there!

Click here to book your free ticket!

INTERSCHOOL SPORT 

Round 3 - Friday 3rd June 2022

Greenhills VS Plenty Valley – AWAY

Green Parkways VS Apollo Parkways B – HOME 

COMMUNITY SPORTING ACHIEVEMENTS

Auskicker of the Week

Congratulations to Elijah K (Prep BH) who won Auskicker of the Week at Glen Katherine Auskick on Friday night! He was absolutely pumped and bursting with excitement when his name was called out to receive his Auskick trophy and certificate! 

This is Elijah’s 2nd year playing Auskick at the club, where Friday nights under the lights have well and truly become the highlight of his week. He is so passionate about his football, spending all his spare time practicing his skills. 

Elijah has also been invited to play in the halftime game on Friday night between the Western Bulldogs and Geelong - a very exciting week ahead for this little bulldog. Keep on kicking goals, Elijah! We are all so proud of you superstar!

If your child achieves something special (grand final win, most valuable player award, best and fairest etc.), please email me (jordan.daley@education.vic.gov.au) through photos and an overview of the achievement to post in Contact. It is important to celebrate and recognise such successes with the school community.

REBEL COMMUNITY KICKBACKS PROGRAM

Greenhills Primary School is involved in the Rebel Community Kickbacks Program

What can you do to help Greenhills primary School benefit from this program?

Staff, family and friends can link the school to their Rebel Active Loyalty Program account and instantly start earning credits.    

Thank you, 

Jordan Daley

OFFICE NEWS

Wondering if you have made a 2022 Parent Contribution?

View in-Compass payments, in three simple steps:

1. Login to Compass, if using the Compass app open in browser (go to more at the bottom of the screen),

2. Select the Cog Icon in the top right-hand corner of your page.

3. Select the My Payments option, select the payments tab and review your payment history.

Still like to make a 2022 Parent Contribution?  Here’s how……..

1. Login to your Compass portal (mobile app or web) and view your home page. When parent contributions are available to pay, a notification will appear here.

2. Selecting this link will redirect you to your Course Confirmations/Payments page. Simply click on the name of the contribution that you wish to pay to begin the payments process.

3. You will be asked to consent to certain agreements, such as an ICT usage Agreement, before paying your school fees. Type your full name into the provided box to accept the above terms and click Proceed to continue.

4. Review your payment summary, and fill-in your Credit Card details.

5. Click Pay Now for the payment to be processed.

Friendly Note: Currently, only VISA or MasterCard payments are accepted by Compass. 

Principles for savvy parenting in a digital world - by Jocelyn Brewer

Don’t ‘ban’ devices, make a plan

Creating your family’s technology use agreement is an evolving task and requires careful considerations. Involve your children in decisions about what are meaningful restrictions on the use of devices, based on what is fair, healthy, and aligned to the values of your family. Consider these key features:

• Avoid bookending the day with technology use, especially before bed
• Limit the stretches of time spent online in one sitting/viewing, break this up across the day
• Diversify the digital ‘diet’ – explore a range of online activities (games, TV shows, apps, etc) and try new content that might not be as popular, but possibly more pro-social
• Have clear expectations across the offline aspects of the day/week (around chores, learning, etc)
• Outline where screen-based media use can take place. Avoid bedrooms in favour of common areas.

Effective technology contracts involve consistency, protecting time offline for exercise, socialising and other activities. Avoid using time online as a currency and create rewards and consequences that suit your particular family and situation. For more structured support on co-creating this digital wellbeing plan collaboratively with your kids, join this course.

Co-view and co-play, to spark conversations

Using technology together – by viewing content or playing games – is a good way to prompt meaningful conversations about device use, online activities and interactions. This will help young people make sense of their experiences and build skills to circumvent and/or manage online issues.

Bring curiosity rather than fear to these conversations. Talk about what you and they do, see and read online, how they feel about this activity, and how they respond to others. Fake news and misinformation is rife online, so helping kids understand how to spot dodgy information and think critically about what they see online is vital. Be conscious of listening to young people’s perspectives, rather than lecturing them about what they ‘should’ do (they know this but doing it in reality can be tricky!).

Parental monitoring software can help, up to a point

There are hundreds of monitoring and tracking tools designed to help manage time online, or block age-inappropriate content. While these tools can be helpful, the social-emotional and cognitive skills that allow us to manage our choices and behaviours require real-life opportunities to rehearse and repeat. Software doesn’t do the tough work of parenting (negotiations, communication, battling big emotions and burgeoning identity and independence) for you or guarantee no exposure to dicey content!

Don’t sweat the screen ‘time’, consider broader factors

Parents can get caught up on the amount of time their children spend online. Yet there is no agreement among experts as to what constitutes excessive time online. Instead, focus on:

• the quality of the content – what is it about, is it developmentally appropriate, does it require passive or interactive consumption?
• the context in which the technology is being used – when alone, in groups, or to pacify a child in a café or to stop a tantrum, in a global pandemic and lock-down?
• the cognitions (that is, the mental action) associated with the activity – are these thoughts helpful and constructive?
• the function of the activity – is it to study, for social connection, information gathering, or other uses?

Asking these more detailed questions about online activities will help parents make more informed decisions about whether particular technology use is serving their children’s wellbeing and development, and how to help their children manage this tech use.

Check your own habits and be a positive digital mentor

Parents are important role models for children – and this extends to screen and smartphone use. Be mindful of your own digital habits (and how easily they can creep into overuse territory) to ensure you set a valuable example of safe and savvy digital citizenry. Kids see our use of technology and consider that as the standard, try ‘narrating’ what you’re using devices for – is it to pay bills or organise the family, or to answer emails that could probably wait?!

STUDENTS OF THE WEEK

Term 2 Week 6 - Presented at assembly Friday 3rd June 2022 

HERE ARE THE SUPERSTARS FOR THIS WEEK!